Get Out Of My Head!
by DarkPhoenixSlash
Summary: Renji/Byakuya was in a convoluted situation. Rukia/His sister had been kidnapped. He had ignored his duties as a lieutenant/captain to go rescue her. And he certainly did not enjoy sharing his/a body with another conscious! Pairings revealed later.
1. Prologue

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**Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo, not me! :)**

**Story Setting: After the Soul Society saga**

**Story Genre: Humour/Dark  
**

**Pairings will be revealed as the story develops!  
**

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**Get Out Of My Head!**

:: Prologue - The Lost Soul ::

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...

_Where am I...? _

_Lost between this familiar yet unfamiliar world_

_a wandering soul  
_

_I reach out_

_and grasp whispers of myself_

_yet none of this belongs to me._

_Not even the darkness_

_...  
_

* * *

Byakuya woke up with a start.

His mind was clouded and he could not quite recall what had happened before he had passed out. All that surfaced in his memories was the vague impression of an impact. He had been preparing for a shunpo… and then... _what?_

Byakuya strained to remember. He had been panicking then… because… because…

Then it struck him.

_Rukia!_ Rukia had been…

The captain tried to open his eyes but found himself unable to do so. His limbs were all torpid and unresponsive. This alarmed him.

Was he paralysed?

_Outrageous!_

He _had_ to save Rukia!

He soon found out that with a more concentrated focus and a stronger will, he could force his eyes open. The sight of a plain ceiling with a circular lamp planted in its centre greeted his regained vision. Concentrating hard once again, he managed to force his body into a sitting position.

Strange, how his body felt so foreign to him. He was pretty sure that he was not in a gigai. Yet there seemed to be some repulsing force, pushing him away from the control of his body, making it difficult to coordinate his actions smoothly.

Now that he was in an upright position, he briefly scanned the room's spiritual composition and immediately learned of two important information.

Firstly, he was in the human world. The medium in which the building consisted of was not of spirit particles but human materials.

Secondly, there was another presence in the room, and it wielded an unfamiliar reiatsu of formidable strength.

Maintaining his mask of indifference, Byakuya composed himself and spoke, "Who is there?"

The captain almost raised his hands to shield his mouth when he heard the words that he had spoken. His voice had become so rough and uncultured! What a disgrace!

The figure across the room seemed to be in the middle of a doze before Byakuya spoke. It straightened its back with a start while remaining in its kneeling position. Byakuya could have sworn he saw an ominous reflection of light in the glasses the figure was wearing.

"Abarai-dono! Looks like you have awaken!" The figure stood up and walked out into the light. He was a huge, built man with cornrow hair and had a pair of rectangular glasses perched upon his nose, below which lay a moustache that had a slight curve upwards. Byakuya recognised the man as a former captain of the Gotei 13 that had been banished from Soul Society, Tessai Tsukabishi. He also noted the outlandish blue apron the giant man donned.

"Urahara-dono! Abarai-dono is awake!" The man hollered as he slid open the fusuma.

_Urahara?_ Kisuke Urahara? Just what in the world was going on? But that was not important… there were more vital matters to attend to first…

Byakuya quickly stood up with much effort. But before he could do anything else, the room was flooded with new visitors.

"Abarai-kun! You're well I see! You got us all worried about you!" A man wearing a rakish striped hat with antediluvian wooden clogs shook out his paper fan and started to fan himself while laughing flippantly. Following behind him was the more serious group consisting of Kurosaki Ichigo, the Quincy Archer, the inhumanely strong human, and that orange-haired girl with strange healing powers.

"Yo, Renji… I'm… Well I'm sorry…" The Kurosaki brat started contritely, voice swimming with regret and shame. Byakuya realised with a jolt that Ichigo had just addressed him with his red-headed lieutenant's name. As if the calling of his name without the expected honorific was not enough! How audacious!

"Kurosaki Ichigo…" Byakuya growled dangerously, temporary forgetting about his awkward voice.

Ichigo seemed oblivious to his warning though, and continued, "I… couldn't save Rukia. I'm sorry."

_Rukia!_

"What have you done to her, Kurosaki Ichigo!?" Byakuya demanded, voice simmering with the rage of a devastated brother. His face felt heated with anger and he could not help but glare at the orange-headed boy before him.

Ichigo shot him an indignant look. "Stop glaring at me as if it was my entire fault! I tried, okay? If you want to get all angry over me then let me ask you, where were you when Rukia needed help? So shut up already and I'll go save her before your paranoid captain wakes up and find his sister missing!"

"Why you…!"

Then a voice cut through the argument as a new presence entered the room.

"Hey you two, cut it out already! We have more important matters to discuss rather than yapping about who's right or wrong!"

Byakuya felt annoyance twitch within him as he immediately recognised the voice.

"It's you…" He stared coldly at the brunet woman before him with distaste. Former captain of the Second Division, Yoruichi Shihouin. His childhood nightmare.

Yoruichi stared at him with a raised brow. "For a minute there I though you were Byakuya-bo," she laughed and dropped to the ground with her legs crossed.

Byakuya felt his temper flaring once more, but he struggled to maintain it. "Enough with such foolishness. We have more serious matters to attend to."

Apparently, everyone else in the room did not seem to agree with him.

"Hey Renji, are you alright?" Ichigo blinked and asked him with a worried expression.

"I agree with Ichigo. You're not acting like yourself today, Abarai-san," the Quincy archer nodded and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

Byakuya was on the verge of snapping. "Please cease such senseless name-calling. I will take my leave now."

The annoyed captain was about to make a move when Yoruichi stopped him.

"You're definitely Byakuya-bo," she stated and placed a hand firmly on his shoulder.

Byakuya gritted his teeth. "Step aside, Shihouin Yoruichi. Or you shall feel my blade to your throat."

Yoruichi grinned. "What blade?"

Byakuya let his hand slide to his side as he reached for his Zanpakutou. But as he gripped the handle of the sword, he realised with a growing horror that it was not Senbonzakura.

"Do you understand now, Byakuya-bo?" Yoruichi shoved a mirror to his face as he lifted his head up.

Byakuya's world shattered then.

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**A/N:  
**

**Is anyone confused? Don't worry, the story gets rolling with the first chapter! This is only the prologue :) **

**Sorry if my English isn't descriptive enough, I'm working on that! **

**Though this is only a crappy prologue, hope you've enjoyed it!**

**Thanks for reading!  
**

**R&R! Critism welcomed.**


	2. The Day Before

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**And here's Chapter 1! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach! The amazing Tite Kubo does! **

**Thank you to everyone for the alerts and favs!  
**

**Cookies to Magicalnora, 27byakuyafan27, bandgeek9, Shh-Its-Me and uniquecero** ** for the reviews!**

* * *

**Get Out Of My Head!**

:: Chapter 1 - The Day Before ::

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_Everyone is fallible..._

* * *

The afternoon was hot and still. The glaring sun beated down relentless on the backs of the Soul Reapers going about their daily activities. Ominous dark clouds drifted from a distance, slowly advancing, hinting the coming downpour. It rarely rained in this world.

Somewhere in the Sereitei, it was just as dark and cloudy in the inner world of a certain captain. Sheet after sheet, his hand raced across the lengths of each paper, filing up the blanks with such finesse and intensity that anyone would have thought that he was rather engrossed in his work. Eventually he dropped his brush with a sigh, feeling worn and tired.

The events of the morning's clan meeting raced past his mind once more, feeding his growing anguish.

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"You do realise that it has been almost a 100 years with you as the head of the Kuchiki clan, don't you?" One of the elders had prompted him with a shrewd look in his eyes.

Byakuya could tell where this discussion was headed to and groaned inwardly.

"And what of it?"

The elder frowned at his stolid response.

"Do not feign ignorance, Byakuya. It has always been a strict tradition of our clan that the head is to have a heir ready by the 100th year.

"If the head is unable to fulfill such a simple task, the council of elders has every right to strip the head of power and re-elect a new head for the clan." The elder finished his sentence with a taunting simper.

Byakuya sighed inwardly. He detested the elders of his clan with great passion. Such power-lusting monstrosity. Their immense greed and despicable skulduggery as they vied for the position of the clan head disgusted him.

"I am aware of that," the clan head stated, unruffled. "The selection of the heir is my decision. None of you have any right in this matter and I suggest that you keep yourselves out of it. I do not wish for this matter to be brought up again. Do I make myself clear?"

Another elder simpered, making Byakuya feel sick inside.

"Oh? Do you think that we have no right in this matter at all?" He said with a sly look, enunciating each word slowly in an attempt to annoy the Kuchiki head. "You have sorely underestimated us, Byakuya. Even if we do not have the right to chose a spouse for you, we have every right to chose the spouse for one other member of the Kuchiki clan who is young enough…"

Byakuya felt a great sense of dread pervade his being.

The Kuchiki elder noted with pleasure that his words had sunk in with an impact and grinned cruelly.

"Yes, Byakuya. We're referring to your sister, Kuchiki Rukia. Whoever who marries to her shall be the new Kuchiki head. We were thinking that Kentarou here would be a fitting spouse."

Byakuya felt rage growing within him.

_Those bastards! How dare they involve Rukia!_

They had him trapped, and were savouring their success. His fingers coiled up into a fist.

After what had happened to Hisana, he knew that he could never have another wife. The thought of him being married to another woman was completely appalling and offending. He would never betray Hisana, even in death. He had sworn his love true to her, and to no other woman.

_Yet…_ His thoughts drifted to Rukia. He wish he could know her better. His duties as a captain had maintained that gap of understanding between them.

_Who did she love? _

Byakuya was unsure. His mind wandered between Kaien, Ichigo, and his own lieutenant, Renji. Kaien was not around anymore, and that narrowed his options to either Ichigo or Renji.

But the council of elders would never allow her to be married to a mere human, or one from Rukongai. All the same, Byakuya would never permit Rukia to be bride to any of them either. He recalled with a staggering pain the consequences of bringing Hisana in. Byakuya had been just days away from seeing his child, but that joy had been torn away from him promptly with her sudden departure. Though her death was supposingly due to natural causes, Byakuya was very sure that it was _not_ natural.

With that thought in mind, his cold gaze landed on Kuchiki Kentarou.

He could already unfold the elders' scheme in his head. Kentarou was as hungry for power and fame as a starving beast. With him as head, the elders in lieu with him would be given high-ranking positions in the clan.

Byakuya shuddered inwardly at that thought.

If such self-seeking people gained control of the Kuchiki clan, what would happen to Soul Society? The other clans had always followed the Kuchiki clan's lead as a role model. The Kuchiki clan held important records of the Sereitei which would be disastrous should they fall into wrong hands. The vast amount of power and influence the Kuchiki clan had over this world had to be safeguarded and well practiced by a responsible and reliable head.

Byakuya could never let such selfish beasts have such power.

"So, what do you think of our plans, Kuchiki Byakuya? Do you have any better options?" The elder prompted him with a smirk, victory dancing in his eyes.

Byakuya was torn between the well-being of Soul Society and his sister. He knew that if he disapproved of the marriage, then he would have to come up with an alternative solution to the problem of the heir. But he had no solution and thus, gave no answer.

The elder watched him with morbid interest. "Well, its not as if a heir-less head has any rights to oppose to this marriage!"

The council of elders laughed in agreement.

Byakuya opened his mouth to protest, but could not find an answer.

Kentarou was smiling widely across the table. "Do not worry, Kuchiki Byakuya. I will take good care of your sister and the Kuchiki Clan."

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_BANG!_

Renji jumped when his captain suddenly slammed his fist down on the work table.

_What's wrong with the taichou today?_ _He's acting all weird and gloomy. And all of a sudden he bangs his table in the middle of work._

Renji watched as his captain stared off into space for a good many minutes before picking up his brush again, only to drop it once more.

The noble then stood up and left the room abruptly.

* * *

Rukia stood outside the door of her brother's room, a feeling of anticipation lingering in her heart. She had been training in the grounds of her squad when she received a message for her to meet her brother at his room immediately.

_I wonder what Nii-sama wants with me this time… maybe… maybe…_

She remembered that two years ago, she had too been standing here on the same day. Her brother had called her in and had given her a fluffy white rabbit with the ears tinged black at the tips. She had been over the moon then, picking the rabbit up and holding it close to her, thanking her brother over and over again. Byakuya had explained that it was a stray that had wandered into his room and felt that Rukia should be responsible for it, but Rukia knew very well that he was just making excuses. The little rabbit had of course been named Chappi.

The following year Byakuya had been involved in the fight with the Arrancars and did not have the time for her. But she received a full week of leave to the human world the next month.

With a smile on her lips, she was about to report her arrival when Byakuya's voice cut through the futon. "Come in, Rukia."

Rukia slid open the futon while kneeling. "Kuchiki Rukia report…"

"Rukia…" Said girl looked up to see her brother looking at her sadly. She then remembered that Byakuya disliked formalities between them when there was no one around.

"Sorry, Nii-sama," Rukia smiled and entered his room, hoping that the smile would lighten the tension in the air.

Byakuya did not return the smile, as usual. He stood up and walked towards Rukia.

_I wonder what excuses will he make up this time… Maybe he will claim that I am too vulnerable and that he does have the time to always be on the look out for me… and that his lieutenant has too much free time on his hands and he wants him to protect me to make himself useful… and that in order for Renji to always be by my side protecting me he will allow Renji and I to…_

"Rukia."

Rukia snapped out of her reverie upon hearing her brother's voice.

"Yes, Nii-sama? Why did you want to see me?" She could not help but let a little of her excitement slip through her expression as it grew stronger.

Byakuya's eyes averted from her face. "…On the first day of the following month…"

Rukia felt a little flame of hope ignite within her._ Say it! Say it!! _

"… we will be holding a marriage ceremony…"

_Yes!!_ Rukia screamed with euphoria inwardly. It was a dream come true. She could not believe it, but it was real! The best birthday gift ever!

"…between you and…"

_I love life!! I love my Nii-sama!!_ Rukia could feel tears of joy already brimming at the edges of her eyes.

"… Kuchiki Kentarou…"

_… What?_

Rukia stared up at her brother, shock visibly splayed out over her face.

_Kentarou…? That nasty cousin!?_

Rukia was about to protest when Byakuya continued.

"This has been decided by the council of elders. Kentarou shall be your husband. Both of you shall bear a child that will be the heir to the Kuchiki clan."

Rukia felt raw anger flare up within her. How could Nii-sama be this cruel to her? Didn't he know who she truly loved? Why didn't he oppose to the marriage? He was the Kuchiki head for goodness sake! He had every right to oppose to the marriage!

"But Nii-sama! Why him? I've never liked him!"

"Cease with such childishness, Rukia. This is all for the sake of the clan…"

"BUT I DON'T LOVE HIM!" Rukia cried out, feeling hot tears flush down the sides of her face.

"Rukia…" Byakuya seemed upset with her reaction. Rukia couldn't care less. How could her own brother treat her like this? Why couldn't he consider her feelings!?

"Please, Nii-sama!! I want to live my own life! I do not want to spend the rest of my life bound to a man that I do not love!" Rukia begged, voice choked and strained with emotions.

Byakuya stared at her for a moment before looking away again.

"There is an alternative…" He said it so softly that it was hardly audible.

Hope sparked in the gloom of Rukia's heart. She could tell from his downcast expression and avoiding eyes that he did not like the second option. But Rukia was desperate, and anything else rather than being bethrothed to that awful man would be infinitely better.

"Tell me, Nii-sama!" Rukia clutched at her brother's cloak and looked up at him pleadingly.

Byakuya's eyes finally dared to meet hers. Rukia could see the uncertainty and unhappiness from the abysmal depth of his dark eyes, stirring emotions which he had always kept away from his facial expressions.

"Rukia…"

"Just say it, Nii-sama!!" Rukia could feel her sanity on the brink of breaking asunder.

"… Marry me."

Everything fell silent.

Birthday wishes were long forgotten.

Rukia looked into her brother's eyes with utter shock.

"Rukia… I…"

_SMACK!_

"You're horrible!" Rukia cried, face contorted with hurt and ire flaring together. Her entire frame was trembling with a paraoxysm of emotions. "How I wish you could understand how it feels, to have your life controlled and manipulated. You'll never understand how it feels... Why can't you!? You're just as bad as those Arrancars, humans who have lost their hearts! I can already see that awful hollow hole in your chest! I hate you! I HATE YOU!"

Rukia ran out of her brother's room, heart wrenched and eyes bleeding with tears.

She would run away from it all.

Away from Kentarou.

Away from all those hateful nobles.

Especially Byakuya.

* * *

Byakyua stared at the spot where Rukia had been standing moments ago, his right hand touching the cheek where Rukia had slapped him. The acerbic sting of her actions and words had jarred his heart.

He had decided that his position as the Kuchiki head was nothing when compared to the well-being of Rukia.

Soul Society meant nothing without Rukia.

He knew that it would be better if Rukia was married to Kentarou. He was a strong man despite his greedy ambitions. Rukia would be safe.

Yet, he realised that if Rukia was married to Kentarou, then he could no longer protect her anymore. Rukia would be separated from him forever. He could not bear that.

Then it had struck him that the best solution would be for him to…

Byakuya mentally slapped himself.

_What had he been thinking!?_

Rukia resembled Hisana, but they were two different people!

_How_ could he had said that to Rukia!?

_How_ could he have tried to encroach on her rights?

If she wanted to marry that Kurosaki brat, let her! If she wanted Renji, then let her!

He would make sure that she'll remain safe. _Heck,_ he would even get Soul Society to exile the entire council of elders so that they would be bereft of their powers.

Suddenly, Byakuya hated himself.

Hated himself more than how he detested any of the Kuchiki elders.

Hated himself so much that he wanted to kill himself.

Because of his selfishness he had hurt Rukia… no, he had _scarred_ her… a _fait accompli_ that he could _never_ forgive himself for.

He had to find Rukia.

"I'm sorry, Hisana."

* * *

Renji looked up from his paperwork.

The rain had started to pour.

He let the coolness of the downpour refresh him after the blistering heat of the afternoon. Such rain was a rare treat that he had to relish. Thunder rumbled and lightning crackled.

His captain was not back yet. Was he preparing something for Rukia's birthday? Renji had already decided to take her out on a date later that night.

He was starting to wonder whether something really serious had happened when he was struck by a terrifying sense of foreboding.

Something was not right.

The tentacles of unease stretched and grew, haunting his heart, stirring fear.

Something was definitely _not_ right…

_Rukia!_

With a start, Renji leapt up from his zafu, slid Zabimaru to his side and rushed out of the room.

Rukia _was_ in danger!

* * *

As Byakuya neared a turn at a corner, he stopped short.

Before him, was Rukia.

She was unconscious.

In the arms of Gin Ichimaru.

Kurosaki Ichigo stood backfacing him, frozen in the moment with the blade of an extended sword protruding out from his back, blood dripping down from its tip.

_Impossible!_

Byakuya could not believe that he did not sense Ichimaru's presence. Even now, with Ichimaru right before him, his reiatsu was completely hidden and untraceable.

Ichimaru withdrew Shinso. Ichigo jerked forward as the sword released itself from his flesh, blood spewing out from the now open wound.

"Now ya be a good bo' and lie here, kay?" The former captain of the 3rd Division flashed his trademark grin derisively at the toppling Shinigami.

"Augh…" Ichigo groaned and collapsed onto the ground.

Ichimaru smiled and hefted Rukia's limp body up. "Bai bai!"

_Rukia!!_

Byakuya gathered all the reiatsu that he could elicit at his feet.

With one massive shunpo, he would knock Gin down and release Rukia from his grasp.

The brother's wrath was so powerful that he drew a tremendous amount of reiatsu out. It was a shunpo that even Yoruichi would be impressed of.

_Rukia, I'm coming!_

Byakuya propelled himself forward, and he was off in a flash.

Everything that happened next occurred in a painful blur.

He felt his head crash into something with a such an immense force that the impact would have split the skull of a human in an instant.

He thought he saw a flash of red.

A sharp pain.

_Darkness._

* * *

**A/N: **

**Stop, stop! Don't murder me just yet! Byakuya just said that to Rukia because he saw Rukia's reluctance to be bethrothed to Kentarou and thought up of the best alternative in a moment, and he let it slip his tongue carelessly. I know you guys were looking forward to the actual storyline, but I had to give you the skeleton first so that the story will be more enjoyable later on. **

**But still, here's a flamethrower for you. **

**Yep, you can kill me with flames via reviews for this chapter. I know there wasn't any humour in there, but I just couldn't find the right moment to inject any. **

**Anyway, the next chapter will be more fun! Chapter 2: Renji Awakens!**

**Thanks for reading!  
**

**R&R! Criticism welcomed! **


	3. Renji Awakens!

**Chapter 2 is here! Sorry for the slow update! Hopefully this chapter will be better than the last!  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach! The awesome Tite Kubo does! **

**Cookies to everyone for the favs and alerts!  
**

**More cookies to Shh-Its-Me, TurquisePL, Magicalnora, 27byakuyafan27, tellie, Whitecloud1, Yukiko Aimiyo, whittney, x pink cloud x and bandgeek9!  
**

* * *

**Get Out Of My Head!**

:: Chapter 2 - Renji Awakens! ::

* * *

_The threshold between dreams and reality…_

_

* * *

_

Abarai Renji woke up with a splitting headache.

_Damn… I don't recall partying last night… _

He was just about to massage his sore temples when he realised with a start that a blade was being swung towards him.

_Holy crap! _

Alarmed, he quickly leaped backwards, the sword's edge narrowly missing him by a hair's breadth.

Nausea rose within him from the sudden action, but before he got a chance to regain his balance, an energy arrow came tearing towards him.

_Shit! _

He could not dodge it. He felt the arrow's impact to his back, searing into his skin like an icy fire. Renji fell over, placing his hands forward to prevent his body from crashing onto the ground. He could hear hurried footsteps approaching him as he tried to catch his breath.

_What the heck is happening!?_ He yelled inwardly.

"_Renji?"_ A voice sounded in his head. Renji was rather surprised. That sounded like his captain!

"Oi! Byakuya! You okay?"

Renji looked up. Ichigo was standing before him, hand clasped over the hilt of Zangetsu which he casually swung over his back.

"Ichigo!" came Renji's surprised reply. "Why the hell did you attack me for?"

Now it was Ichigo's turn to look surprised.

"Eh? Didn't you want us to train you? So that you could get use to combat in this body?" Ichigo glanced questioningly at the rest of the party. Renji saw Chad with his huge arm armour on, Orihime with Tsubaki released beside her and Uryu with his Quincy bow activated.

_Oh… so he was the one who shot me!_ _I'm so gonna give him a payback later!_ Renji grumbled to himself, flinching slightly from the sting of the wound.

The hauntingly familiar voice went off in his mind once more. "_How foolish…" _

Renji grimaced. That was definitely his captain's voice in his head.

_Damn!_ He thought. _I really must have drunk myself crazy last night… _

Renji did talk to himself occasionally. Most of the time he visualised himself speaking to Zabimaru. Sometimes when he was rather peeved he would find himself speaking to Ichigo in his head, hurling abuses and having a good quarrel with the orange-head that would make him feel slightly better. And rarely did he imagine himself speaking to his captain. It was only on those rare occasions, where he found himself rather unmotivated and yet filled with desire and responsibility to get something done with, would he pretend that his captain was chiding him with his cold, harsh words.

"_How immature…"_ The Byakuya voice in his head started.

"_Nobody asked you for your opinion anyway!"_ Renji shot back, rather annoyed. His head throbbed and his back was burning from the arrow blow. He had woken up in the middle of goodness know where... under attack! Of course he was feeling irritated!

_As if I'm not feeling annoyed myself…_ Renji heard his inner Byakuya think to himself.

"_I'm more annoyed than you are, idiot!"_ Renji snapped at him.

Even though his eyes were not closed, he could faintly visualize the image of his captain at the back of his head. He looked at him with startled eyes.

"_You can hear my thoughts?"_

Renji was exasperated. "_What kind of stupid question is that? Of course I can hear your thoughts! You're my damn annoying conscious for goodness sake!" _

His inner Byakuya grew visibly annoyed and Renji heard his infuriated thoughts slash through his mind: _That fool! How dare he!_

"_Where are your manners!"_ His 'captain' chided him crossly.

_Shut up!_

"Eh, Byakuya, seriously are you alright?" Ichigo's voice broke through his inner conversation.

"Perhaps I've put too much force into my blow…" Uryuu started, pushing his glasses up his nose with a glint in his eye. Renji could not tell if he was being apologetic, or was simply praising himself.

"Kuchiki-san, are you okay?" Orihime's concerned voice drifted over him.

Then did Renji realise how everyone was addressing him.

"Argh! What's wrong with all of you? I'm Renji!"

Everyone before him seemed befuddled.

"Huh?" Ichigo scratched his head.

Urahara stood laughing at a side. "Oh-hoh! Looks like Abarai-kun is back!"

Ichigo gave him a weird look and asked, "You're Renji?"

Renji was exasperated. "Yes! I'm Renji! Soul Reaper of the Gotei 13, Lieutenant of the 6th Division!"

Ichigo's face paled.

"Renji… you might want to take a look at this…"

Renji gulped nervously when Ichigo took out a hand mirror, setting off a succession of disturbing thoughts along with the alarm bells in his head.

_Oh my god. Don't tell me that I'm in Taichou's…._

Hand trembling, Renji squeezed his eyes shut and reached out for the mirror. He closed his fingers around the grip of the mirror and drew it closer to him hesitantly.

Then slowly, slowly, he opened his eyes and looked into the mirror.

He heard Ichigo burst out into wild laughter.

"Damn you!" Renji yelled and threw the mirror straight smack into Ichigo's face, feeling his face heat up with embarrassment. "You scared me there! There's nothing wrong with me, you moron!"

"Sorry, I couldn't help it." The idiot strawberry chuckled, taking in deep gulps of air in an attempt to suppress his cachinnation. "But man! You should have seen the look on your face!"

With that, the orange-head found himself caught in a fit of laughter once more.

"Shut up!"

"_Renji, you're too ignorant of the situation…"_ he heard Byakuya sigh in his head.

"_You shut up too!"_

"_Do not be disrespectful, Abarai Renji!"_

"_Just shut up already!"_

Renji felt as if his head was about to explode. If this wasn't hell then he did not know what it was.

_Why me!? _

_

* * *

_

Far away in a distant dimension, a certain Shinigami awoke. Her body felt stiff from lying in the same position for a long period of time.

_What happened? _

She vaguely remembered some shouting… raging emotions… something about… a marriage?

Then she remembered.

Her brother had said cruel words. And she remembered with a pang of guilt that she too had spoken to him harshly.

She had been running, and then everything went black.

So what was it about shouting that she had faintly recalled? She could have sworn that it was Ichigo shouting her name.

If all that had happened, then why was she now snugly tucked in a huge comfy bed?

_Where was she?_

In the darkness, she could not quite make out the details of her surroundings, but she could tell that the room was huge and generously furnished. Surely, she could not be in the care of the 4th Division?

Unsure of what to do, she lay still under the covers until her patience wore away with every ticking minute. She was about to get up from the bed when she heard approaching footsteps.

_Someone was coming! _

Hastily sitting up, she searched for her Zanpakutou but it was nowhere to be found. Suddenly, light flooded the dark room and the Shinigami had to blink her eyes several times before they grew accustomed to the light. With a clear vision, she was startled by the vastness of the room and how foreign it felt.

"Hey Rukia! Are you feeling better?"

The Shinigami's heart skipped a beat.

"Renji?"

Kuchiki Rukia felt immense relieve flood into her upon seeing her favourite red-head. She always felt safe in the presence of Renji.

"Yeah." She felt her face heat up a little as Renji smiled at her. He clasped his rough hands over hers. "Everything will be alright, Rukia. I know what happened between you and your brother."

"Where are we?" She asked, trying hard not to stammer as the red-head leaned in closer to her.

"I hope you don't mind… but I've ran away from Soul Society with you…" He raised his eyes to meet hers. "So that we can always be together."

Rukia felt a rousing warmth in her heart as she stared into the deep ruby eyes of the man before her.

"Renji…"

"We are free to live a life of our own. No more rules. No more laws."

Rukia felt Renji's calloused hands leave hers. She looked up to see Renji with his arms wide open, inviting her into his embrace.

"I'll protect you. I won't let Byakuya take you away."

Rukia was speechless. Speechless with joy.

Here she was, free from the chains of fate that bounded her to a forced destiny. And with her was the man who had stolen her heart.

Without a moment's hesitation, she threw herself into the embrace of the larger man, tears of elation running down her cheeks.

_Was this a dream?_ If it was, she wished that it would never end.

She felt Renji's strong arms wrap around her protectively.

"Renji… I-I…"

"Shush…" Renji pulled away so that their eyes could meet once more. "I love you, Rukia."

Rukia could not remember what really happened next. All she could recall was the elation, the passion, and the feeling of soft lips against hers.

* * *

After much effort, Kisuke Urahara managed to gather the entire group to settle down into a semicircle with him seated comfortably at the center.

"Now, now. I'm sure Abarai-kun has gone through a lot today and Kurosaki-kun has had his share of fun. Let me brief everyone on our current situation and spare Abarai-kun from some of his misery, okay?"

Everyone dully nodded their head in agreement. It was time to get serious. There were matters to be sorted, and Rukia had to be found.

Renji, however, was not paying attention to the store manager at all. He was instead more engrossed in trying to rid his head of a very annoying captain.

This was the first time Renji ever had this much of a problem over the control of his conscious. It was his mind, wasn't it? Why was it so damn hard to think about someone else besides his hell of a taichou!

"_Renji. May I remind you that your thoughts are all clearly audible to me, and that it would be wise to keep the derogatory remarks out of your head."_ The Byakuya manifestation in his mind sounded rather peeved with his 'poor behaviour'. If Renji was not talking to a conscious in his head, then of course, he would never dare to speak to his taichou in such a manner.

_Why can't he understand that I am now trapped within his mind? _

"_To my really pissing-me-off conscious, for your information I can hear your thoughts very clearly too." _

Renji felt that his brain was working overtime. This conscious was as realistic as realism would allow.

Every time Renji thought of something, regardless of how insignificant it was, his conscious would hear it and play a very fitting replica of his taichou by ignoring it with silence. But as human nature would have it, even if words were unspoken, the mind would speak its inner thoughts.

And to Renji's utmost annoyance, he could not shut this conscious up. On normal occasions he would just converse casually with his conscious, be it about how boring filling paperwork was, what he should grab for lunch or what he should say on a date with Rukia. His mind was not that complicated to be able to handle a conscious whose thoughts were all audible to him and was able to react accordingly. It was as if this conscious had an individual mind of its own, just like Zabimaru.

To make matters worse, his conscious was now in the form of his taichou. He would not mind if that was all, for his taichou was usually silent and withheld his comments. But now, he could hear every single thought running through the mind of his conscious, which was really annoying. No matter how hard Renji tried to shut him up, or force him out of his thoughts, he could not.

That was _really_ frustrating.

_"Get out of my head!"_ Renji was literally shouting into his inner world.

_"Your mind is hopelessly vacuous. I have already informed you that… "_

_"Get out!!"_

Perplexed, Renji decided on a different approach on getting rid of that annoying form of his conscious.

He had read somewhere before (was it that book authored by Kurotsuchi?) that if you ever got caught in an endless cycle of a fixed nightmare, the only way to prevent the same nightmare from occurring during rest was to visualise a different ending for the nightmare before letting sleep claim you.

Yes, that method might just work!

His inner Byakuya paled visibly and Renji grinned triumphantly.

For a start, he tried to visualise himself pushing his taichou out of an exit from his mind, but his taichou did not even budge.

Then, he attempted tying a rope around his taichou and dragging him out of his mind, but his taichou merely untied the rope with that same composed façade on his face.

How did Renji know that it was a façade? The heated, indignant thoughts that came stabbing at him from his nasty conscious told him so.

_Pathetic_, he heard his inner Byakuya declare when he had untied the rope.

He tried prodding his taichou out with a giant finger, tried luring him out of his inner world with some extra spicy ramen, and even attempted to sweep him out with a giant wave.

All to no avail.

Renji was on his wit's ends. He then imagined his inner world to be a flat, rectangular plane to which he held the parallel edges. With that, he shook the plane with all his might, venting out all his frustration into the generation of an inner quake. Yet his taichou was stuck to the ground like glue. Terribly frustrated, Renji started to shake his inner world furiously in a haphazard manner.

His inner Byakuya was alarmed.

"Stop it! Stop it, Renji! Stop shaking the whole place!"

Renji paused and saw that his taichou was clinging desperately to the edge of his inner world. He sighed and let go off the mental image. Almost immediately, his inner world lost its rectangular plane shape and filled up the three-dimensional space in his mind once more. He was too mentally exhausted to continue sustaining such visualization.

_Damn! This is really difficult!_ Renji groaned. Why did his conscious have to take on the form of his taichou? And why was it stuck to his head like how music could glue itself to a mind?

_That was too tiring… there has to be some other way… _

Then, Renji realised how thick-headed he had been. Why did he try so hard to remove his conscious from his mind, when he could have simply focused his mental energy on trying to change the form of his conscious?

* * *

If this wasn't hell, then Byakuya did not know what it was.

Define hell.

Firstly, after receiving a nasty shock that he was apparently trapped in the body of his fukutaichou, he had requested a match with his company of humans.

It was mentally exhausting, trying to coordinate the movements of Renji's limbs while keeping track of the action in the heat of battle. Renji's Zanpakutou was rather awkward to him too, being clueless as to how to release its Shikai form.

He was about to request for a change in blade when Renji suddenly woke up. This came as an unexpected surprise as he had expected Renji to be in his former body.

Being the master of the body, Renji's consciousness had forced Byakuya into his inner world.

The captain soon found himself surrounded by high jagged walls that ran along the plane of Renji's inner world like a maze. Renji's tattoo markings had been graffiti-sprayed along the lengths of the black walls in faded white. His feet stood upon brick red, gritty ground. Byakuya soon found out that he could refocus his vision to view the environment 'outside' and realised with a start that Ichigo was swinging his blade straight at the still-groggy-from-sleep Renji.

Then he heard Renji's voice pulse through the inner world like a wave.

"_Damn… I don't recall partying last night…"_

"Renji! In front of you!" Byakuya shouted into the empty air before him and was relieved when Renji got startled awake and dodged the incoming blade. Then he saw the Quincy release an arrow from the back. Renji noticed the arrow a moment later while trying to regain his footing and cursed loudly in his mind. Byakuya could only watch helplessly as Renji got struck and fell to the ground.

_"What the heck is happening!?"_ He heard his fukutaichou holler in his mind.

Now that the action was over, Byakuya decided to test out his communication capabilities with the red-head.

"Renji?" He tried speaking out loud, wondering if Renji could actually hear him.

He felt a jab of surprise coming from the red-head and could hear Renji's thoughts on how 'that sounded like his captain!' He was about to inform Renji that his presence here was indeed true when that Kurosaki brat interfered and starting conversing with his fukutaichou.

Later on, Byakuya felt rather indignant when Renji regarded him as another form of his conscious. He tried explaining the situation to the red-head but was never taken seriously. His situation became much more hellish when Renji started speaking rudely to him, and when he realised that all his thoughts could be openly heard by Renji.

The meaning of hell truly did show up when Urahara started his briefing.

Instead of paying attention, that fool of a baboon had started trying to rid him from his mind!

Byakuya had watched with utmost distaste as Renji executed several pathetic moves. Still, the captain wondered what would happen to him if Renji really did force him out of his mind.

And then the apocalypse struck and his frustrated lieutenant started an earthquake in his inner world. Byakuya had been thrown off the ground by the sheer magnitude of the quake and had to grab hold onto one of the edges of the overturned plane to prevent himself from falling into the darkness below. To his utmost relief, Renji soon grew weary and the inner world reverted back to its original form.

But that was _not_ all.

Byakuya now found himself with his hair taking on an orange hue.

"Damn you, Renji!" He cursed out loud and tried to force his hair to retain its natural black.

_That bastard was trying to change his appearance! _

And judging from the bright orange hair, Byakuya could guess who Renji was trying to change him to.

Soon, it became a battle of mind-power. Byakuya was struggling to maintain the image of himself while Renji had the upper hand by focusing his sight and concentration intently on the orange-headed teen who was seated across him in the real world.

The captain soon found his haori losing its saturation along with his scarf and kenseikan. Perhaps it was just his imagination but he could sense with a growing horror that his smooth black/orange hair was shortening and becoming rather stiff and edgy.

Byakuya had to do something.

Anything.

He had to break Renji's focus.

An idea sprouted in his head. It was horribly absurd, derogatory and shameful, but Byakuya found himself with no better option.

Renji, being able to hear the thoughts ongoing within his taichou, was terrified when he learned of Byakuya's plan.

_"Don't do it! Don't! You win! I'll let you stay in my mind, just don't do it!"_

Byakuya felt Renji's concentration break and was relieved when he saw that his hair and attire were all back to normal.

_"Okay! You happy now? You can bug me all you want, I'm too tired to care anymore!"_

_He still thinks that I'm not really here… wait… perhaps if I executed that plan in mind then will he believe me…_

_"Oi stupid conscious! I thought we had an agreement! Don't DO IT!"_

"If you do not acknowledge my existence as an individual, I shall do it. For by doing so it will prove that I am truly a separate individual from you as your mind would never be able to visualise an image of this degree with such lacking imagination."

Byakuya could sense Renji's frustration build up.

_"What are you talking about? You're my conscious! Of course I'll treat you like one!"_

"Fine then. If you do not believe me, I shall prove to you that I am not part of your being."

_"Don't do it!"_ Renji pleaded. The captain could feel alarm rising from Renji's soul.

Byakuya was rather reluctant to execute such a move. No, he was completely against it. But how other would he be able to prove his existence? He would have to bear with it.

He could hear Renji's rushed train of thoughts resound in the inner world.

_It will never happen. There's no way I can think up something like that! Even if I really am able to visualise such an image, it would most probably be blurred. Yeah, I definitely can't see something like that happen in my mind! _

Oh? I'll show you, Abarai Renji…

Forcing back his pride, the captain took in a deep breath to prepare himself from an action that he had never found a purpose to carry out for ages.

He…

He…

(Sorry, I had to break the 4th wall here and say that I can't bear to type it out…)

(…)

(Fine, I'll type it…)

He smiled. (!!!)

* * *

"It seems that both of you had much fun in there."

A man donning a sleek white outfit turned to the source of the voice as he slowly pulled a door close.

"Hai, hai. What are you doing here, Aizen-sama?"

Aizen smiled lightly at the man before him.

"Ichimaru, do not forget that it is by the abilities of my blade that you are able to enjoy such pleasures."

That statement seemed to break Ichimaru's grin.

"But don't you think that's a lil' cruel? She totally believes tha' I'm real."

The tall man whose image screamed of unspoken power watched the younger man before him with mild amusement.

"Oh? Cruel, you say? Well then, do you think that you can receive such passion from her if she knows who you truly are?"

The sly grin on the man's face widened.

"I suppos' not."

* * *

**A/N:**

**Did you get the last bit on Aizen and Ichimaru there? If you don't, remember who kidnapped Rukia in the last chapter? Ah, there you go! Hope that helps! **

**Well in case you're wondering, I already have the whole plot planned out. But of course, I'll amend the plot to suit the readers' needs! **

**I seriously have no idea HOW to write a good story, so if you would give me advise on that one, I'll be really grateful.**

**And OMG! Its the end of the world! [Maybe its just me overreacting :D]**

**Thanks for reading!**

**R&R! Criticism welcomed!  
**


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